Sigourney Weaver, the voice behind Planet Earth here in America, provides a play-by-play tour of Cameron’s CG-created oasis, venturing from Earth’s southern hemisphere into the Alpha Centauri galaxy, onto the moon of Pandora. Here, every animal possess bioluminescent qualities, lighting up the evenings. The atmosphere is unsuitable for humans. The Na’vi use six-legged horses to travel and hunt across this diverse landscape. Due to the magnetic fields, some chunks of land are suspended in air, moving constantly. And all those flying banshees I’ve been so excited about (just watch them attack the humans at the end of this clip)? It turns out they aren’t even the biggest flying beasts to live on this planet.

Unobtanium is the only reason humans are on Pandora – becaues this is the most efficient superconductor in the universe. The Na’vi, who are apparently 10 feet tall, live on top of the unobtanium deposits. So humans decide to push them out of the way.

We here at Techland are seeing Avatar Thursday night – watch for our initial reactions Friday – and this is precisely the sort of stuff I’m getting pretty excited about: Learning the innerworkings of a whole new world, and the rules that govern it. Much as I loved the bar scene in Star Wars, or the Cloud City in Empire Strikes Back, I’m getting pretty stoked about seeing all the surprises waiting to be found on the surface of Pandora. How about you? Excited? Fatigued?